EFF leader Julius Malema is set to appear in the East London magistrate’s court for sentencing after magistrate Twanet Olivier found him guilty of violating the country’s gun laws.
He was found guilty in October 2025 for discharging a firearm at an EFF rally in Mdantsane in 2018. The charges included unlawful possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
Pre-sentencing hearings took place in January, with the potential for a 15-year sentence, though Malema has reportedly said he intends to appeal all the way to the highest court.
On Tuesday, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim is set to brief the media on its wage demands at Eskom, saying the union has been left with no choice but to reject the employer’s offer and declare a wage deadlock.
Business Day reported recently that Numsa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were demanding a 15% across-the-board wage increase at Eskom and had rejected Eskom’s 5.5% offer.
The inflation rate is hovering around 3%. The demands come as Eskom reported a profit after tax of R16bn for 2025, its first profit in eight years. Profit before tax was R24bn. The NUM and Numsa are demanding a R7,000 housing allowance, a cellphone allowance of R1,500 for the NUM and R2,000 for Numsa, and an electricity allowance of R1,500 for the NUM and R2,000 for Numsa. The employer would also need to contribute 80% to medical aid.
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However, on Saturday Jim said what “separates Numsa and Eskom is the difference of 1%”, adding: “Eskom is embarking on the broad daylight robbery of hard-working Eskom workers. What is even more provoking to Numsa is the fact that Eskom has decided to make an offer that is short-changing workers.”
Deputy president Paul Mashatile, in his capacity as chair of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), will on Thursday address the fifth HRDC summit at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.
The HRDC serves as an independent mechanism for collaboration between government, business, labour and civil society in the implementation of the integrated human resource development strategy for South Africa.
The council serves to enable government and social partners to identify and respond collectively to agreed-on human resource development needs in support of economic and social development.
Parliament is in recess.
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